Patricks

One hundred recipes, along with sixty-five photos, are now out of my hands. You’d think I’d be relieved, so did I, but I’m worried. I just let go of the summation of 90 percent of my waking hours from the past 4 months. It’s in someone else’s care, and that scares the crap out of me.

I have these momentary panics:

Did I make the pavlovas enough, do the directions make sense?

I say jackass in the book, will people hate that?!

Was I clear about how grateful I am for this, or will I come off as smug?!

I even worry about whether or not you’ll like it, as if I’m just an insecure school girl. I thought I would be relieved and elated, but I’m more anxious than I’ve been during this entire process. I want people to love it, to leave me glowing reviews on Amazon and tell their friends about how much they love it. I hope that happens, but for now, I’m still losing sleep.

For the time being, I have a St. Patricks Day recipe for you. I posted my veggie lovers St Patricks Day offering last week, but this one is about that corned beef we all associate with that Irish Holiday.

So if you will, drink a pint and say an Irish prayer for me and my forthcoming book.

Cook on high just until the salt and sugar dissolve, remove from heat. Add 2 bottles of stout (reserve the last bottle for cooking) and 8 cups of ice, stir until ice has melted and brine is cool.

Add the brisket, cover with lid and refrigerate for 3 days and up to 10.

Remove from brine and rinse well. Discard the brine and clean the Dutch oven well.

Place the brisket back in the cleaned pot, along with the onion, pour the remaining bottle of stout and then cover with cold water until the brisket is fully cover with one to two inches of water above the beef.

Bring to a low boil, cover and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Simmer for 3 hours or until the meat if fork tender. Move to a carving board, thinly slice against the grain.

While the brisket cooks, make the pickled slaw. In a sauce pan over medium heat, add the lemon juice, vinegar, salt, sugar, ginger, allspice, cloves and peppercorns in a pot. Bring to simmer just until the salt and sugar dissolve, remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl, add the cabbage and onion. Pour the cooled pickling liquid over the cabbage and onion, refrigerate for one hour.

Slightly warm the buns, fill with corned beef and slaw before serving.